The mischaracterization of our movement as violent extremism undermines our core values of peaceful protest and inclusiveness. We seek to reach out to all people who want a fairer and just society.

Chicago Tribune's billionaire owners refuse to remove a crime victim's gruesome assault photo from its website nearly a decade after the incident. Today the graphic image is fixed at the top of page one when John's name is searched online, causing him harm every single day. The bloody photo, categorized by Google as "explicit," is the first thing any potential employer or colleague sees when John's name is Googled! This highly graphic photo is hurting John's professional life enormously, causing our entire family much distress. As of today, 107 other highly notable publications immediately took down assault photos and content upon request. Chicago Tribune is the ONLY publication that refuses to allow this victim the opportunity to heal, instead inflicting professional and emotional damage on John years after the tragedy. When several of John's family, friends, and even US Senators requested photo removal as an act of empathy for a crime victim, Tribune editors turned around and blamed the victim for the very image they had the power to remove. Tribune’s persistent refusal is a clear act of victim blaming and a flagrant disregard for a crime victim’s privacy and dignity. Crime victim experts agree that “secondary victimization” in the wake of a crime can result in exacerbating victim trauma and cause unnecessary additional harm. We would appreciate it so much if you could sign the following petition and share it widely. Tell Chicago Tribune CEO Justin Dearborn that he MUST stop harming a crime victim!

Principal Bowman has made great strides in making Parkmead better in her short tenure. She has much more to do.

As a 75 year old, Jewish lesbian from New York, I've given what I could from civil rights, health care, cultural and international peace legislation. Keep on moving us forward.

On Thursday, April 13, President Donald Trump authorized U.S. forces to drop the military's largest non-nuclear bomb on Afghanistan. The 21,600-pound Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), nicknamed the "mother of all bombs" is GBU-43, which reportedly contains 11 tons of explosives. A week before, Trump killed 300 civilians in Mosul in one of the deadliest airstrikes in decades and, in March, he broke records for the number of bombs dropped on Syria. Politicians and pundits often ask in reference to Muslims, "Why do they hate us?" implying that Islam and Muslims are inherently violent. But rather than blaming Islam for terrorism, President Trump and Congress must stop fueling hatred and helping create radical extremists by bombing Muslim-majority countries. While Trump has escalated airstrikes in the Middle East, it is important to note that his bombing campaigns follow bipartisan policies of the two previous administrations which have targeted 7 Muslim-majority countries since 9/11.

Progressive French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon - the "French Bernie Sanders" - is now a "frontrunner" in the first round of the French presidential election. That is giving him an unprecedented platform in global media, which he has used, among other things, to attack Trump's military attack on Syria. When he addressed tens of thousands of people in Toulouse Sunday, the crowd roared when Mélenchon attacked Trump over Trump's illegal attack on Syria. "No Frenchman can accept a global gendarme who decided all by himself the good and the bad," Mélenchon said. [1] As a leader of what will soon be the only EU country with a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, Mélenchon has a unique ability to serve as a "check and balance" on Trump's global warmongering. It was France that led the global opposition to Bush's illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq. If Mélenchon can stand up to Trump on Syria, he can stand up to Trump on Saudi Arabia's catastrophic war in Yemen, which the Trump Administration wants to escalate. Trump Administration officials want to help Saudi Arabia and the UAE attack the Yemeni port of Hodeida, which the UN, aid groups, former US officials, and 55 Members of the House have warned would likely push Yemen into famine. [2] Urge Mélenchon to use his bully pulpit to challenge Trump's support for Saudi Arabia's catastrophic war in Yemen by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/16/world/europe/jean-luc-melenchon-france-presidential-election.html 2. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/04/12/55-bipartisan-lawmakers-demand-trump-pump-brakes-military-action-yemen

My family and I have travelled coast to coast and beyond via Amtrak's long distance train service: from Charleston, SC to Portland, Oregon; from Charleston, SC to Montreal Canada; etc. Our home station in Charleston, SC is on the list of stations we'll lose if Trump's budget passes. My 7-year-old son, Jack, is particularly devastated. On our travels, we've made many friends — often people from other countries to whom train travel appeals when they're vacationing here. In short, eliminating our long-distance rail service would be a loss not only to American citizens, but also to international tourists and the tourism industry.

Student loan debt is going past 1.5 trillion dollars and when this bubble bursts it will affect our entire economy. Time to fix this and allow the students to pay, tax payers don't. I've paid 75k on my 108k loan and I owe 213k and its growing. This is predatory and the government should not be creating indentured servitude on the backs of student and their families.

Former Gopher Football coach, Tracy Claeys, publicly supported the team's boycott against several players suspensions from team activities, after they were found responsible for committing sexual assault through University findings. He then stated in an interview with WCCO radio that he planned on donating $50,000 to victims of sexual assault. As of today, we have yet to see any funds be donated. We demand that he follows through with his promise, and that the funds be donated to the Aurora Center- an organization at the University of Minnesota that supports victim-survivors of sexual violence. Acts of sexual violence culminate as a betrayal of trust against victim-survivors. Tracy Claeys willingness to make such a promise and then to break it further exacerbates this act of betrayal that victim-survivors are forced to endure and exemplifies the issue of the lack of accountability for perpetrators. Survivors of sexual violence at the University of Minnesota have not forgotten Tracy Claeys promise. Demand that $50,000 be donated to the Aurora Center!

The California DISCLOSE Act, AB 14, will fight secret money in politics by making it illegal for political ads to mislead voters about who's paying for them. It requires ballot measure ads and ads about candidates by outside groups to clearly and prominently disclose their top 3 true funders — on the ads themselves. AB 14 is facing a do-or-die vote in the Assembly Elections Committee, and your Assemblymember, Matthew Harper, is a crucial vote. Sign the petition now to ask him to vote "yes" and to do all he can to pass AB 14.

The California DISCLOSE Act, AB 14, will fight secret money in politics by making it illegal for political ads to mislead voters about who's paying for them. It requires ballot measure ads and ads about candidates by outside groups to clearly and prominently disclose their top 3 true funders — on the ads themselves. AB 14 is facing a do-or-die vote in the Assembly Elections Committee, and your Assemblymember, Jordan Cunningham, is a crucial vote. Sign the petition now to ask him to vote "yes" and to do all he can to pass AB 14.

The California DISCLOSE Act, AB 14, will fight secret money in politics by making it illegal for political ads to mislead voters about who's paying for them. It requires ballot measure ads and ads about candidates by outside groups to clearly and prominently disclose their top 3 true funders — on the ads themselves. AB 14 is facing a do-or-die vote in the Assembly Elections Committee, and your Assemblymember, Ian Calderon, is a crucial vote. Sign the petition now to ask him to vote "yes" and to do all he can to pass AB 14.